Professionally grown ... Black truffles. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

Olivia Riordan

Melanie Kilpatrick's love affair with truffles began at a trufferie in Western Australia. “We were sitting in the sun, eating truffles under the truffle tree, with a few wines in our belly,” she says. The following Christmas, she found an unusual present in her stocking – an inoculated truffle tree.

Before planting the tree in her Perth Hills backyard, Kilpatrick cleared an area in her garden, and filled it with manure and soil. Her son bought the tree from WA's Oak Valley Truffles, a commercial operation that also sells to the public. Under the guidance of truffle manager Fabio Dietos, she planted a second tree, which cost her $50, to increase her chances. Kilpatrick's hazel trees (the roots of oak or hazel tree saplings are inoculated with truffle spores and then planted) are now 12 months old, but still need constant maintenance, including plenty of watering.

“When everyone else goes on holidays, they get a babysitter, a house-sitter, or a dog-sitter. I get a truffle-sitter,” she says.

But this is no get-rich-quick scheme. Yes, truffles can sell for $2500 a kilogram, but on average, it takes four to six years before an inoculated tree will produce its first truffle. Even then, it's hit-and-miss. Industry experts estimate that only one in 10 inoculated trees in a commercial operation will produce truffles.

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The two trufferies spoken to by Good Food had not heard of any customers producing truffles from their backyard plants. Yet.

Tim Terry, owner of Truffles Australis, has been selling inoculated trees to backyard gardeners and truffle connoisseurs for about six years. “They're nearly all foodies and they love experimenting,” Terry says. “The idea of growing a fresh truffle in their own backyard is hugely exciting.”

Pride of place ... Melanie Kilpatrick hopes these two hazel trees will one day produce truffles.

Dietos is another advocate of the DIY approach. “It's a new, exciting, sexy thing to get involved with,” he says. Both businesses are specialist suppliers of truffle-inoculated trees to commercial truffle producers.

Simon Rickard has spent the past four years as a market gardener for Annie Smithers' Bistrot, in Kyneton, Victoria. Three years ago, he decided to experiment with truffles, planting a small trufferie on the property where Smithers lives at nearby Trentham. The holm oak trees were then clipped into a hedge, doubling as a garden feature. While the bistrot has since been sold, if Rickard's experiment pays off, truffles may soon appear on the menu at Smithers' second restaurant, du Fermier, at Trentham.

Sound easy? Not quite. There are key technical components to growing truffles, such as climatic and soil conditions. Attention to detail and a healthy dose of patience are prerequisites.

According to the Australian Truffle Growers Association the production of Perigord black truffles is a risky venture. It requires specific soil conditions and ample soil space for the inoculated tree's root system.

“Since there is a requirement for the tree to have an extensive root system before the truffle fungus can produce fruiting bodies – truffles – it is theoretically unlikely that a tree in a pot, or with a very limited root system, will produce any truffles and certainly not with any consistency,” association president Anne Mitchell says. “I have yet to see convincing evidence.”

So the jury is still out for backyard gardeners. But Rickard is optimistic.

“Give it a go,” he says. “The worst that can happen is you have a really attractive tree or hedge in your garden. The best that can happen is that you'll be digging up thousands of dollars worth of fungi for years.”

Kilpatrick still has a few years to go before she can begin her backyard truffle hunt. But what if fortune doesn't favour the bold?

“I do it for the sheer joy of it and I've thoroughly enjoyed the whole process,” she says. “It's given me an unusual, but rewarding, focus on something I'd never given much thought to.”

2. Soil: This is make-or-break and there are two crucial factors: PH and soil type. Perigord truffles are native to very alkaline soils in Europe, but most Australian soil is quite acidic. On average, Australian soil has a PH of 5.5; apply horticultural lime to raise the PH to 8.0. You'll also need well-draining soil.

3. Tree: In Australia, it is necessary to buy inoculated trees, as truffles don't grow naturally, unlike parts of Europe. Oak trees are industry standard in Australia. Inoculated trees range from $30 to $50 each and should be purchased from specialist suppliers.

4. Harvesting: Traditionally, trufferies use pigs or dogs to locate truffles. With only one or two trees, you can search by hand. Look for a brûlé (French for burnt), where there's natural dieback around the tree. (It is thought that the mature truffles produce chemicals that kill the grass above where it's growing.)

Are you attempting to produce truffles in your backyard? Login to the comments and share your experiences.

17 comments so far

I looked into buying some infected hazels for home grown black Perigord truffles. I was told to dig a hole and fill it with water and time how long it took to drain away. Well, a day later it still held water so it was never going to work at my place. Good old clay soil.....What no one has mentioned is that with a little care, a good spot and ensuring you have both sexes, even if you don't get truffles, you can get hazelnuts, which is a pretty fine product itself. I love truffles and buy a small amount every year. I make butter, flavour rice and eggs and make a couple of favourite dishes with them. Wish I had my own, but hey, we can't do it all....Good luck to everyone trying!

Commenter

bhagya99`

Location

NSW far south coast

Date and time

June 13, 2013, 12:28PM

I bought three tiny perigord truffles preserved in vinegar home from France. One of them has been growing in the fridge. It is roughly 3 times the size it was when we bought it over a year ago.

Commenter

gandalf

Location

Date and time

June 13, 2013, 3:50PM

They still grow after they've been picked?

Commenter

Peter

Location

Melbawne

Date and time

June 14, 2013, 11:27AM

It seems it is possible - but this might be a highly unusual situation. We are reluctant to disrupt the process by eating the truffle - just keeping an eye on it for now.

I would be interested to know if anybody else has had this experience.

Commenter

gandalf

Location

Date and time

June 14, 2013, 11:49AM

DON'T EAT THEM! They go squishy and puff up when they are rotten and could make you very sick. They would have been is some preservative or they were sealed in inert gas, but toss them away and get some fresh truffle where you can smell and see they'e ok. Truffle season has started so check out the markets and trufflefestival.com.au website.

You could keep them as a science experiment of course, or create a website with a live webcam so we can all watch.

Commenter

Fred

Location

Date and time

June 18, 2013, 1:33PM

Whatever you do, don't eat that Truffle!

Commenter

Turalla truffles

Location

Bungendore

Date and time

June 20, 2013, 8:08PM

buy inoculated trees? how do you know if the trees are inoculated?

Commenter

eater

Location

Date and time

June 13, 2013, 4:25PM

I was wondering the exact same thing - isn't it a bit odd that a farmer whose truffles can sell for up to $2500/kg would then potentially cannibalise their own business by selling inoculated trees so you can grow your own (potentially) in direct competition with them?

Commenter

bb

Location

Date and time

June 14, 2013, 9:31AM

Have a look at the Australian Truffle Growers Association website for a list of suppliers of inoculated trees trufflegrowers.com.au

Commenter

Fred

Location

Date and time

June 18, 2013, 1:35PM

So if their introduced foreign root-fungus makes all the neighbours' trees die .... ?